notamermaid

Pfelling gauge has dropped to 282cm. Of course, captains know their ships with all the little intricate details of how they behave in low water. Sounds all promising and good. Cooler weather and some rain coming. Welcome to Cruisecritic. You are right that we mention almost only the stretch between Straubing and Vilshofen as that is where the low water levels happen first. From Vilshofen to Budapest we have the situation that the Danube is either regulated by locks or deeper than further upstream. Budapest can be low but this does not happen as frequently as upstream from Vilshofen. You can read a few pages back in this thread where we have posted a few more details but the short version is: your cruise will most likely not be impacted by low water levels. notamermaid

So things are not looking too good on the Elbe. And if it does not rain substantially it must mean that the Czech authorities will keep much water in the country. Since Sunday the level at Dresden has been at 70cm or lower and if we are to believe the forecast it will stay this way for the next 36 hours. CroisiEurope are due to sail from Prague to Berlin on 28 September. The are currently doing the itinerary on the Elbe lower section and northern German canals.This of course avoids the low water areas upstream. notamermaid

Over in the Moselle thread the conversation moved to the stone industry in the Eifel region which borders on the Rhine and Moselle. The stones were shipped via the river(s). All cargo has to get onto the boat and to literally lighten the load but also to speed things up first swimming cranes were used and then stationary ones built. So, as a change to all those castles and palaces you can do some crane spotting while sailing. There are some old ones left apart from the modern steel constructions and they are industrial heritage of the long tradition of the Rhine as a mode of transport. They have protected status usually. To start, here is the one that I mentioned in the Moselle thread. The Alter Krahnen Andernach (the old German spelling with h) loaded millstones onto ships: https://www.andernach-tourismus.de/en/andernach/places-of-interest/old-crane There are some on other rivers of course - Trier has got an old one still, so has Würzburg. Here is a history fact that may not be so well known. According to (German) Wikipedia the cranes as we find them along the rivers today are considered an invention of the Middle Ages. Until fairly recently in history, around the Mediterranean habours stuck to the more labour intensive loading and unloading via ramps. One crane you may not recognize as such - it is hiding its old function - is the Pegelhaus at Koblenz. The name means it is the house with the gauge for the river level and it still shows the level on the blue clock. Check out the old flood marks when you are there: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegelhaus_(Koblenz) More to follow. notamermaid

Talking of old cranes. There are not that many left in Germany but Trier has got one: https://www.trier-info.de/en/places-of-interest/moselle-cranes notamermaid

Big pinch of salt was a good idea. After a rise during the night (297cm) the level at Pfelling gauge is back to 288cm. notamermaid

Indeed. Apparently already the Romans were active in the region. They transported mined stones via the Brohl valley to the Rhine and later - first on land but then put on ships - the millstones were transported from the Eifel to Andernach and via the Rhine to the North Sea. We are lucky or rather from an architectural and historical point of view the town of Andernach is fortunate to still have its old crane. A landmark: https://www.andernach-tourismus.de/en/andernach/places-of-interest/old-crane notamermaid

Ah, yes, I remember Avalon Waterways offering this excursion. Winningen and the Moselle at that point are worth skipping an excursion I find but this optional one is good and quite different to other places you can experience on a river cruise. Mendig is a small town at the Eastern end of the region with the volcanoes called Vulkaneifel. Mining for the stone basalt had been going on for several hundred years. It was once the largest mine for basaltic lava in the world. The mines were then ideal for storing beer due to the constant low temperature which means Mendig became the "brewery town of Germany" with 28 breweries but only 2,800 inhabitants. Only one brewery is left now. Under the museum "Lava Dome" you can go into the cellars/mines which appears to be what you do during that excursion. Nearby is the monastery Maria Laach at Laach Lake. A beautiful abbey of course made of local stone and that makes it interesting. This is the "Monks" part of the excursion. I was in England quite some years ago at an old mill. Imagine my surprise when I read that they had used millstones from (Nieder)mendig. It is less than half an hour by coach from Winningen to Mendig. The return trip to Koblenz is hardly any further. A find this to be a very nice opportunity to see an area with a different feel to the valleys. After all those vineyards and the wine tastings on the Moselle this beer brewing town is a nice change. notamermaid

On a different topic. Over in the Rhine thread @Canal archive mentioned a fun trip to a small town outside of Vienna. Vienna is perhaps best known for coffee and cake and Wiener Schnitzel but is also a big wine producer. Not in the centre of town of course but the Austrian capital is so large that it includes vineyards in the districts. It is interesting to look at this and I will get back to the topic. Throw in your comments any time. Also on other food and drink. By the way, had a Sacher Torte baked by a baker near Koblenz the other day. Not sure if it was close to the original but it was very good. 🍰 🍷 🥩 notamermaid

Pfelling gauge still "wobbly". Now at 287cm which is not brilliant but the small rise overnight was all that some ships will have needed. Potential to reach the 290cm and more is still there but the forecast now shows no figures over 300cm. Pfelling has got a "mind of its own" so we need to take the forecast with a big pinch of salt. notamermaid

Quick look at Kaub gauge. Yes, lowest figure still forecast for tomorrow (118cm), after that a rise to really pleasant levels. Should be good till the end of the month. No figure below 110cm appears in the probability chart. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge. The rain has not made it to the area in time. The river has struggled through the day on a relatively stable but too low level. Figure now is 278cm. Bands of thunderstorms with much rain are sweeping over Germany tonight. Forecast for tomorrow suggests the level will return to 290cm. notamermaid

It can be so much fun to stumble upon a local festival. Yesterday I deliberately went to a village fete though. Good to see, it was really traditional (apart from 21st century music from loud speakers). I was only there in the afternoon but judging from the crowd and the young couples that were the centre of attention (which is traditional) the evening was likely to be "feucht-fröhlich". Which means a happy event with laughter and quite a bit of beverage of the intoxicating kind... Intoxicating - completely forgot to mention in this thread that it is time for Weinbergspfirsiche again. Those are the peaches that originally grew among the vines. They are sometimes now specially cultivated on their own in orchards.I really like the liqueur made from them. Here is a page from a merchant in the Neuwied Basin (North of Koblenz) with explanation and photos: https://www.graeb.com/en/range/peaches-nectarines/maturity-table/roter-weinbergpfirsich-mosel/ If you are in or near Koblenz or on the Moselle look or ask for "Weinbergspfirsichlikör". notamermaid

See post #466. Now it is clear what is happening to the ship. It has been chartered by the German river cruise company 1AVista Reisen. After her christening in May 2024 she will sail the Rhine and the tributaries. https://www.1avista.de/schiffe/ms-gentleman/ notamermaid

Good thought, an extension to that famous spa town would be in order to recover. notamermaid

@pontac I must say I am pleased to read that Viking has chosen Ahr wines as the German reds. Not too may places that do really good red wines along the Rhine and Moselle. The Ahr valley is renowned for quality reds. notamermaid

A quick look at Pfelling gauge. 285cm is better than what had been suggested for tonight so that is good. Oktoberfest - or beer festival in general. We have talked about Vilshofen in the past and it has been mentioned that the embankment has been used by Amawaterways to hold a beer fest. This article I did not see at the time, in 2022 the new "Donauwelle", the name given to the area at the dock, was opened: https://sonderthemen.pnp.de/neugestaltung-der-schiffsanlegestelle-in-94474-vilshofen/passau/donauwelle-vilshofen-neueroeffnung-bierfeste-reederei-ama-waterways-173616 An Amawaterways ship was due to arrive on the first day of the river cruising season, according to that article. For the whole year the town expected 400 dockings. I wonder if that figure became reality. notamermaid

I see in your signature that your grand journey is now here. Have a great time. notamermaid

Looks like a memorial, doesn't it? If it had not been for several German words that took me to assume this was a poem I would have been searching including the German word for memorial. The vintner makes Riesling wines with much love and without much chemical stuff, it appears. There is wood on the cubical building with the letters, but in a modern design with ultramodern technology in the concrete structure with energy-saving in mind. Interesting stuff. Which company did you sail with? Did you have a tour in Winningen? notamermaid

Ah yes, Karlstadt. You had mentioned this a while back but I had forgotten. I am quite partial to a bit of Carnival but my worst experience was on a train to Cologne from where I connected to Essen. Happened to be on 11 November some years ago. Elfter Elfter - never travel on that day in the Rhineland on a train unless it is a high speed one and then choose first class. The train to Essen was more civilized and the passengers on board who appeared to have just arrived by plane at Cologne must have felt at unease. At least I did - what an embarrassing display and not what I would want a tourist to remember Cologne is like. The wine festivals tend to be a bit more civilized around here than the beer festivals. But avoid groups of travellers in the big hotels along the Moselle that have never tried Federweisser before especially when they have paired it with onion cake... Note to river cruise passengers: if you have the chance and bear in mind that this stuff is young wine that is still fermenting, do try some. You cannot take it home as the bottles are never corked. Here is some info: https://www.germanwines.de/knowledge/wine-more/new-wine-federweisser/ notamermaid

Yes, I know, you are the "un-enthusiast". We have people here on the Rhine who always go on holiday to flee Carnival - or avoid a festival in or near their town. Wanna come to the Rhine valley? It is nice and quiet away from Rüdesheim and such places - only five hours by train. But closer to your home I recommend the hills behind Würzburg. notamermaid

For Kaub gauge the end of the month is coming into view in the long(ish) term forecast (14 days). As opposed to the Danube the level of the Rhine is doing okay for river cruise ships. I would call it a perfectly expected situation for autumn, i.e. standard low - and if I may add, a bit higher than I thought it would be at this time of year. The figure right now is 135cm. So looking ahead we see a drop in the level due to no rain and warm temperatures. The lowest figure is forecast for Wednesday but the level should get no lower than 100cm (range is 108cm to 120cm approx.) After that we are likely to see a rise and if we trust in the computer modelling the level of the Rhine at Kaub till the end of the month should be well above 100cm. With the computer modelling being adjusted almost every day, we will look at this again of course. Yesterday the event "Rhine in Flames" took place at St. Goar. It was the last one for this year, the new dates are already on the website: https://www.rhein-in-flammen.com/ September into October - wine festivals and harvest celebrations as well as annual markets (Jahrmarkt) all around! Perhaps you will get the chance to join the locals for a few hours on your cruise. notamermaid

The "wobbly week" is drawing to a close and today we see the level at Pfelling back down on 285cm. Enough for all ships still? Or will the information on the ground for captains mean they will need to avoid the passage through the shallows this evening? We may of course see a slightly higher level as the day progresses but the forecast suggests that the river is on the "down slope". On a happier note: we have the "Oktoberfest" in Munich coming up! And the spin-offs, i.e. the fun without the tradition fests, in other towns in Germany. But there are other traditional autumn festivals apart from the one in Munich of course. In my area along the Rhine we go for wine - wine festivals and harvest festivals as well as traditional "Kirmes" days coming up. Wonder if there is a time to cruise when you can stagger from Oktoberfest, beer festival, wine festival, Kirmes and annual harvest market to another on a Grand European cruise? 😁 😁 notamermaid

Pfelling gauge went as high as 299cm this morning and is now at 295cm. Just a short wave to "ride" on? A bright sunny day and a further rise of the temperatures in Bavaria could bring the level back down again. Much rain is forecast for some parts of Southern Germany late on Monday. notamermaid

Yes, not looking good: These in orange are statistical low levels. Dresden is at 67cm. It has been a bit up and down in the last few days - unreliable. Not sure if this is good enough for Viking. notamermaid

I had a look at images and this appears to be a modern extension with ornamentation on a wall at the Weingut Heymann-Loewenstein. It is kind of aphorism/poem stuff about wine and life - what I can tell from the German letters. This is it: https://winningen.de/weingut-heymann-loewenstein-vdp/ notamermaid